Dorking Wanderers 5 Ware 0

Cancel the plans for Wembley, Wanderers too good for Ware.

This game saw the return from injury of Elliott Charles and Ahmed Abdulla, and the team did begin to play more like the side that won games at the start of the season. But Dorking had the quality up front to make the most of the chances they created and whilst Ware held their own for much of the first period the home side looked more dangerous going forward.

This was emphasised as early as the tenth minute when Matt Briggs' shot was parried by Tom Coulton but Guiseppe Sole was first to react and bury the rebound. Ware heads did not drop and they continued to search for openings but by contrast were unable to put them away.

Yannick Kamanan did engineer a chance for himself but couldn't put his usual power behind his shot which was safely gathered by Joshua Pelling in the home goal. Later he was the recipient of a well worked pass from Junior Appiah and put the ball into the six yard area from where Charles buried it only to be ruled offside.

Hopes that Ware might make it to half time for a chance to regroup at just one goal down were dashed five minutes short of the break when Sole slotted his second after Dorking broke down the left.

It is a mark of Ware's play at the moment that they were having the better of the second half and yet still conceded a third goal as the home side sliced through their defence with comparative ease. Matt Briggs was the one to benefit on this occasion as his side broke from a Ware attack and he did well to cut between two defenders to have a free run on goal to score after 63 minutes. It was just as well from the number eight's point of view as five minutes earlier he had blasted a penalty way over the bar after he had been brought down by Tom Coulton.

The third goal was the cue for Kem Kemal to withdraw three of his most effective players from the fray making an acknowledgement that the game had gone from Ware. In the light of the current injury problems it was presumably deemed better to safeguard their fitness for coming league games than risk them chasing a game that had drifted out of sight.

The consequence was that Ware lost something of their impetus and ultimately two more goals were conceded. Those were arguably the least damage that might have been inflicted as Dorking missed a couple of other good opportunities into the bargain.

Ware now face London Colney in the Senior Cup on Tuesday with selection options varying between a team based on the under-23 development side with the aim of resting the first team and the full first team in the expectation that they can take the tie and boost morale. With the latter there is the danger in these fragile times that they might be less than convincing on the night with the reverse effect on morale. Who'd be a manager?

With not a lot of good to write about the match let me turn to wider aspects. Referees have a hard job and I prefer not to criticise them especially after a defeat when there can be a riposte of sour grapes but Mr Dyson certainly had a number of us confused with some of his decisions. That said there can be no complaint about Gareth Madden's two yellow cards.

There again the home manager used a four-letter word to describe one or other of the match officials once in each half and could be heard clearly across the other side of the ground yet escaped with just a talking to on the second occasion. Kem's recent ban looks especially harsh in that light.